Reigning Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts led the Eagles to a Week 1 win over the Cowboys, despite a far-from-perfect night.
“Just finding ways to win, that’s what it comes down to,” Hurts said after the 24-20 victory. “It doesn’t matter how it looks, it doesn’t matter how it goes, it’s just about finding ways to win.”
The season opener got off to a wobbly start for the defending champs. Eagles fullback Ben VanSumeren suffered a non-contact knee injury on the opening kickoff. Before the first play from scrimmage, defensive tackle Jalen Carter was ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott. The Philly defense couldn’t get a stop for much of the night. And the offense, which started very hot, sputtered late, unable to figure out the Cowboys’ second-half blitzes.
But the Eagles did enough to best the Micah Parsons-less Cowboys thanks to Hurts, who used his legs to torture Jerry Jones’ club. The QB finished 19-of-23 passing for 152 yards and a 94.2 passer rating. He led Philly with 62 rushing yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns. It marked Hurts’ third career game with two-plus rushing TDs and an 80.0-plus completion percentage, most by a QB since 1950 (no other QB has more than one such game in career).
“I think Jalen played a really efficient game,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “He made a lot of plays with his feet when things weren’t particularly there. That’s such an advantage that — Jalen, there was a third down, they took away his first read, he resituated his feet and put the ball to Dallas. To say I know exactly how he played yet would be hard because I want to watch the tape.
“I thought he played really efficient and I thought he played really well, and he’s a big reason why we won that football game tonight, the game that he played. Again, I know that it’ll say that we threw for 152 yards. ‘What’s going on? Why didn’t we throw [more]?’ But Jalen played really efficiently and really [well] from what I saw and made plays with his legs, his mind, and with his arm.”